Principal Bob Groff said since Active Learning Elementary School, or P.S. 244, in Flushing, NY, started serving vegetarian fare for breakfast and lunch earlier this year, student health has shown an all-around improvement.The percentage of students classified as obese and overweight dropped by 2 percent in one semester, it was reported in WNYC.Goff also said the students' focus is improved and their energy levels are more balanced, without the after-lunch crash common before the dietary change.

The positive results from PS 244 in New York after it began serving vegetarian food to its students are a wonderful example of how a change in diet can make a difference. Not only are the students more balanced, but also their chances of long term chronic illness are being reduced and they are learning about how to eat well early on, making it easier to sustain throughout life. As discussed in this previous blog post the school decided to make the switch when they started to offer more vegetarian meals and noticed that students gravitated towards those selections. According to this article research suggest that when schools offer healthy food options, "students will select them, eat them, and improve their diet." The case of PS 244 provides amble support for this observation. Since the body and mind are so closely interlinked, PS 244 has shown that educating the mind as well as caring for the body through proper nutrition will help students achieve their full potential and gets high marks for the effort!

Faux is gaining popularity in part because there have been advances in technology enabling designers to make better-looking fakes. In a still-shaky economy that has made Americans more frugal, faux also can be seen as a good way to be trendy without breaking the bank. And a movement toward socially conscious shopping makes some people feel better about faux purchases.

Since faux leather and other clothing materials started appearing on runways in New York, they have steadily gained in popularity. No longer seen as cheap or gaudy, clothing and accessories designed with faux materials instead of animal skins are the big trend this season according to the Washington Post.

And Macy’s says new techniques used with faux leather, like scalloping and quilted stitching, have given tops and jackets “new relevance.”“It used to be that ‘faux’ meant less expensive and quality less than desirable, but not any longer,” said Josh Saterman, vice president and fashion director for millennials at Macy’s. “Faux is a part of our next evolution to our fashion ‘must-haves.’”

After changing to the vegan diet, it grew upon me that the lifestyle extended beyond food and applied also to the clothes I wore and the products I used. For those who are similarly seeking stylish alternatives to leather, the trend in faux fashion is a big help!

Students at Vietnam's Viet Nam National University in Hanoi line up every Friday to buy vegetarian meals served by a local club called the 'Hope Club'. The lunches are served on the campus outside of the School of Natural Science and have become a huge hit according to this article.

The cheap lunches are part of a "Meals of Love" project started about two months ago by Hope Club. Initially, the club served 70 portions as a test, but demand was so high that the number was increased to 200.

Part of the draw is the low cost of the lunches, but the quality of the food and the positive messages of health and environmental protection delivered by the club resonates with the students. The project organizers plan to expand the popular Friday event to other campuses around the country. The efforts of the club to prepare and serve the meals will pay off as more students become used to and enjoy the cuisine.

Each of the 25 members, who come from different universities in Ha Noi, plays a different role. Some travel to the farm of Thuan Nguyen Company, located 30km from Ha Noi, to pick up the fresh vegetables. In the afternoon, all members gather at Linh Thong Pagoda to process the dry ingredients. At 4.30 next morning, some arrive at the pagoda to start cooking so that 200 portions can arrive at the University of Science by 9.30.

One of the best ways to attract people to the vegan way of eating is to make great food and serve to as many as possible. Sometimes, it takes just one good meal, as it did for me, to change the way people eat and think. This project in Vietnam is a wonderful example!

Pumpkin is an amazing squash that is very versatile and full of healthy nutrients. It is commonly used during the holiday season for pumpkin pies, cookies, and as a seasonal ingredient in beverages. However, pumpkin has great potential in other dishes as well, including curries, soups, stews, and salads. It has a delicate flavor, mildly sweet in some varieties, and is very simple to cook and add to recipes. It also has a very nice texture. Some grocery stores sell small 1 kg pie pumpkins which are perfect for cooking in almost any recipe and are soft enough to cut open with a kitchen knife with little effort. Pumpkin has several great nutritional qualities - here are some of them:

Pumpkin's main nutrient is Vitamin A - it contains over 200% of the recommended daily allowance, which is great for the immune system, improving vision, and most importantly, healthy for one's skin!

Pumpkin is low in calories, only 20 calories per 100 g, so it won't hurt to eat it frequently.

Since it has plenty of beta-carotene, it has cancer fighting benefits as well.

Pumpkin contains zea-xanthin which helps preserve the eye's retina and protect against age related macular diseases.

Lastly, it's low in sodium and high in potassium (about 7% of the RDA) so it's potassium-to-sodium ratio is healthy. Further, plant-based ingredients which deliver potassium are very good for the functioning of the body.

The researchers reported that compared to people who eat the most fiber, those who ate the least had a much higher rate of heart disease risk factors, such as obesity, chronic inflammation, and metabolic syndrome.Metabolic syndrome is a dangerous gang of five metabolic villains that doubles risk for heart attack...

A recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine found that higher intakes of fiber reduced cardiometabolic risks among those studied between 1999 and 2010, roughly 23,000 people. More specifically, fiber consumption was associated with lower levels of inflammation and obesity, also precursors to chronic illness. Additional unrelated studies have also found the higher fiber intakes result in lower mortality rates and lower risks of other non-communicable diseases such as colon cancer, heart disease, and respiratory illness according to this article.

Healthy vegan diets supply large amounts of fiber from vegetables, fruit, and legumes. Regularly adding lentils, garbanzos, kale, broccoli, peas, nuts, apples, and dates among other great ingredients to one's diet can make it fiber rich everyday!

Cooking vegan food often means cooking with color - oranges, yellows, greens, and reds. Aside from the great flavor, it's nice to look at a meal that has a variety of hues. Now it's easier to add another color to your meals - purple! This article from Parade lists five purple vegetables that may be new to you including purple yams (pictured), carrots, kale, corn, and cauliflower. Some supermarkets now carry purple kale, yams, and potatoes. Purple carrots and cauliflower may be more common in farmer's markets. Peruvian purple potatoes are my favorite ingredients in roasted vegetables! Give it a try!

One of the more fun things to do when traveling is to taste and eat the local food. There's always the chance that you'll discover and like something new. It turns out that choosing to eat the local ingredients of the culture you visit may help protect biological and plant diversity which is in jeopardy. Because of the global demand for mega crops like wheat, corn, and rice, farmland used to produce many indigenous crops are being converted to grow these staples according to this article which reduces the variety of vegetables grown around the world.

...the incredible variety of the planet’s plant life is disappearing. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that approximately 75 percent of the Earth’s plant genetic resources are now extinct.Another third of plant biodiversity is expected to disappear by 2050.This is no small problem--humans eat biological diversity.

As a result, food security also becomes jeopardized, especially among the poorest nations. In fact, according to the article, "many indigenous crops can be environmentally sustainable, improve food security, help prevent malnutrition, and increase incomes." In addition, since a large portion of the mega crops supply animal agriculture with feed, reducing meat consumption will also reduce the rate of farmland replacement of indigenous agriculture.

Therefore, researchers suggest that food security must involve the continuation and protection of local vegetables and crops and the expansion, not reduction, of plant biodiversity. We can support this by shopping at farmers markets and buying local produce whenever available as well as using a variety of ingredients in our meals. The article lists 15 indigenous crops which have the potential to increase food security in developing nations if protected, including enset, kumara, Lifou Island yam, and Bunya nuts among others!

Americans are eating — make that, demanding — fresh veggies at the one place no one expected them to: the restaurant. Gone are the days when meat 'n' potatoes basked in all the menu glory and an indistinguishable medley of peas, carrots and green beans were pushed to the wee corner of the plate. When Americans go out to eat — when most folks prefer to splurge — they're increasingly splurging with vegetables.

The benefits of plant-based ingredients is changing the way many people approach food now and it's being reflected in the menus of familiar restaurants across the country. According to this article, several national fast casual chain restaurants are seeing demand for veggie dishes increasing dramatically and overtaking previously popular meat based dishes on the menu. Even kale based soups and appetizers are becoming top picks among those who frequent these establishments.

Credit a new generation of eaters — 80 million Millennials with a combined spending power of $1.3 trillion annually — who garner a big hunk of their social media cred by what they eat and what they post about what they eat.

The plant-based trend seems to be influencing the millennial generation among others as cited in the article who are demanding better dining options when they eat out. This demand will benefit all who decide to take a break from the kitchen as restaurants begin to adapt menus to satisfy this healthier eating style!